I gave my last car to my son around the end 1998. He needed it 'way more than I did. I had retired maybe 5 years before. Over the years I had 9 cars. Here's a quick rating:
1961 Austin Healey bug-eye Sprite. Terrible! Bought it for $300 with 2 tops (soft and hard) and forked out $300 every 3 months for repairs - that was a lot back in 1967! Car only ran right at top speed - 85 mph. No more sports cars! Unreliable to the extreme!
1962 Acadian (Canadian Chevy II) convertible. Nice car, except for incurable wander in the steering and minor valve-lifter aggravation. Drove it for years till it wouldn't go any more.
1962 Comet 2-door. Awful. Blew up the 144 c.i. six at 40 mph on a rainy night - wife and baby in car, miles from home. Replaced it with a 170 not much better. Paid $275 for car -drove it 3 years, nothing left of it.
1967 Pontiac Laurentian. One of the best. Indestructible 283 V8. By rights, they should still produce it! Drove it till the body went, sold it to a reckless young guy who killed it in a week.
1977 AMC Gremlin. Bought new. Not bad, not great. One extensive makeover, body & mech. and it lasted 10 years+.
1972 Dodge Dart - bought it 6 years old. Best of all cars I ever owned. Had it 5 years, spooked into selling it quick and cheap. Thought I had oil pressure problems. Found out later it was just a bad $12 "sending unit" keeping the light on! New owner restored the body - had a lovely-looking car for years!
1973 Toyota Corolla. "Replacement" for Dodge. Worst car ever - just about. The old ones were bad. Newer ones very good. Unsafe, frame rusted, car dead. Good!
1986 Hyundai Pony. Bought new. Small, irritating problems only. Never had a big bill in 7 years. A Buick sent it into the "next world" on a snowy day in '93.
1985 Dodge Omni. Another good Dodge. Reliable and low-cost. It was 13 years old when I gave it to my son. He drove it for a year till he could get a better car. 22,000 km by him - not a penny spent, but at last, problems evident. He drove it to the scrapyard under its own power - got $60.
1961 Austin Healey bug-eye Sprite. Terrible! Bought it for $300 with 2 tops (soft and hard) and forked out $300 every 3 months for repairs - that was a lot back in 1967! Car only ran right at top speed - 85 mph. No more sports cars! Unreliable to the extreme!
1962 Acadian (Canadian Chevy II) convertible. Nice car, except for incurable wander in the steering and minor valve-lifter aggravation. Drove it for years till it wouldn't go any more.
1962 Comet 2-door. Awful. Blew up the 144 c.i. six at 40 mph on a rainy night - wife and baby in car, miles from home. Replaced it with a 170 not much better. Paid $275 for car -drove it 3 years, nothing left of it.
1967 Pontiac Laurentian. One of the best. Indestructible 283 V8. By rights, they should still produce it! Drove it till the body went, sold it to a reckless young guy who killed it in a week.
1977 AMC Gremlin. Bought new. Not bad, not great. One extensive makeover, body & mech. and it lasted 10 years+.
1972 Dodge Dart - bought it 6 years old. Best of all cars I ever owned. Had it 5 years, spooked into selling it quick and cheap. Thought I had oil pressure problems. Found out later it was just a bad $12 "sending unit" keeping the light on! New owner restored the body - had a lovely-looking car for years!
1973 Toyota Corolla. "Replacement" for Dodge. Worst car ever - just about. The old ones were bad. Newer ones very good. Unsafe, frame rusted, car dead. Good!
1986 Hyundai Pony. Bought new. Small, irritating problems only. Never had a big bill in 7 years. A Buick sent it into the "next world" on a snowy day in '93.
1985 Dodge Omni. Another good Dodge. Reliable and low-cost. It was 13 years old when I gave it to my son. He drove it for a year till he could get a better car. 22,000 km by him - not a penny spent, but at last, problems evident. He drove it to the scrapyard under its own power - got $60.
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